I just got my Digitrax Zephyr yesterday. I did tons of research on DCC before I decided to go to it vs. DC. However, I researched everything but the Zephyr itself. I saw that it had 2.5 Amps output and figured that the most amount of locomotives I would be running at one time would be 3 to 4 and that the output of the Zephyr would be enough to run them.
While this my be true, I didn’t know untill I opened the box and read the instructions that it is only capable of 10 addresses. As of now I need 38. I am a locomotive fanatic. For me, locomotives are the whole reason to build a layout.
Can the Zephyr be unlocked to handle more addresses than ten?
The Zephyr can handle thousands of addresses, it can only address 10 of them at a time. I have somewhere in excess of 30 locomotives sitting on my Zephyr powered layout at any given time. Up to 10 of them can be under active control at a time. The rest sit idle on the layout or on the shelf.
So let me get this straight, I can program all of my locomotives with different addresses (in my case it will be 38 of them for now), but only activate 10 of those addresses at one time?
If that is the case then you are correct. I will be just fine.
yes . all your locos can have their own address but only 10 of them can be controlled at once (assuming you have the power to run that many) . if you find yourself running out of power you can buy the DCS100 to use as a command station , keep the Zephyr as a throttle . the DCS has both more power and more ‘slots’ so you can control more locos
ernie
edit: i don’t know the details but if you use consisting , which is sort of assigning the same address to 2 or more locos , you could run doubleheaded steam or diesel lashups and have more than 10 locos running at once but still use only 10 ‘slots’ in the Zephyr
Let’s say you happen to be running 10 locos at once. The other 28 are idle in the yard and you want to run one of them. You would have to stop one of the 10. Dispatch it from the system and then select the new one you want to run.
This concept of Slots, is a Digitrax thing and can be confusing when you first get started. Once you get used to the idea of dispatching locomotives following use, everything works just swimingly!
my05hammer,
Yep, that’s correct. With any DCC system, you can have an infinite number of locos sitting on the layout. The limitation in any DCC system is in the number of addresses (AKA “slots”) that can be “active” at any one time.
The Zephyr can run up to 10 slots at one time. The Empire Builder can handle 25, while the Chief can do 120 slots at once. I have been a Zephyr owner for 6 years or so, and I currently have about 30 locos sitting on my layout. I run with 3 operators using 3 DT400R’s and a UR91, and I don’t run into the 10 loco barrier that often.
Important tip: After you’re done running a multiple unit lash up on a train, make sure you break the MU up, that all throttles are at zero percent, and that you turn off all functions. On Digitrax systems, MU’d locos, or locos that are above 00% throttle, or locos with functions on count as “active” addresses, and takes up a slot. Doing the above means not having to reset OPSW36 as often if at all (OPSW36 clears the slots).
I can also conserve slots by programming a group of locos to the same address. For example, I have a 4-car RDC train that stays together on my layout. Each one is programmed to address “4448”, and all 4 run as one. This 4-unit train only takes up one slot on the Zephyr.